Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Wildbirds & Peacedrums Team Up with Congotronics for World Tour

Last November, artists like Deerhoof, Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, Juana Molina and many others joined forces to cover the eclectic Congolese musicians in Crammed Discs' Congotronics series for the Tradi-Mods vs. Rockers compilation. Then, in January, Deerhoof drummer Greg Saunier promised a massive tour related to the album.

Speaking with Exclaim!, Saunier said, "We've also got a big collaboration thing planned for this year that's super exciting; I don't even know if I'm allowed to talk about it yet. It's very likely that there's going to be a large collaborative group that will include the members of Deerhoof, as well as members of Konono No.1 and Kasai Allstars, that will hopefully be doing some large festival shows in the summer of 2011."

Now, Pitchfork has obtained details of the proposed tour. Billed as the Congotronics vs. Rockers tour, the event will include Congotronics groups Konono N°1 and Kasai Allstars alongside Deerhoof, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Juana Molina and Skeletons' Matt Mehla. In total, there will be 20 musicians.

For now, the tour dates are only taking the crew to Europe and Japan. While that's not exactly ideal, the fact that they haven't announced any North American dates means Canada could still be in the cards.

The Congotronics vs. Rockers team will be meeting in Brussels for a week of rehearsals in May. If all goes well, they will also be releasing an album together in 2012.